


in sickness and in health

by abrightgrayworld



Category: Leverage
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Appendicitis, Dreams, F/M, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Parker's brother - Freeform, Sickfic, discussions about cancer, references to violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:21:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21628297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abrightgrayworld/pseuds/abrightgrayworld
Summary: When Parker needs to be taken to the hospital for appendicitis, she, Eliot, and Alec all face some demons they didn't expect to.Featuring: explorations of their pasts, lots of talking, and hugs.
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer
Comments: 17
Kudos: 122
Collections: Leverage Reverse Bang 2019





	in sickness and in health

**Author's Note:**

> This is...wildly self-indulgent, you guys. I don't even know.
> 
> This is for the Leverage Reverse Big Bang, which I am posting 15 minutes before the deadline yay!!! This fic is inspired by art by the magnificent Janis; their tumblr is here: keepitdreamin.tumblr.com. Go show them some love!!!

**Eliot**

At 4:23am, Eliot feels Parker shoots upright. He comes awake instantly and tenses, alert for anything that screams _danger_ , but all is quiet except for Parker’s faint gasps. He sits up quickly.

“Parker?” he says, alarmed. She’s sitting at the foot of the bed, head bent between her knees, shaking. “Parker, what’s wrong?”

He hears her blow out a harsh, quavering breath, and he forces his panic down. He gives Alec, sprawled on the other side of the bed, a hard nudge in the ribs.

“Parker,” he says, half to her and half to Alec to cut off his groaned protest. Alec straightens immediately, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Parker,” Alec says, scooting to the edge of the bed, and his voice is gentle and soft in that way that always draws Eliot and Parker out of their shells, that way that makes them feel safe. “Hey, girl. Look at me.”

Eliot sits beside her. “Tell us what’s wrong, sweetheart.”

Parker blows out a sharp breath, and Eliot realized she’s pressing her hands against her stomach. “Hurts. Worse than earlier,” she wheezes out. She had been pale, achy, and off her game for their job today, but they had all just assumed she was coming down with something and carried the job through to the end, anyway.

“Did you get hit? Stabbed?” Eliot says sharply.

Parker shakes her head.

“Food poisoning? The flu?” he continues. Parker shakes her head again.

“Hurts worse,” she says again, and Eliot breathes out slowly, mind whirring. For a second, all he hears is his heartbeat thundering in his ears. He knows hundreds of ways to patch up wounds, get through infections, survive any rough situation. Even for more common afflictions, he knows how to take care of himself. But right now, he doesn’t know what to do. He has _no idea._ He forces himself back to the present, compartmentalize like he knows how to do so well. Parker needs him.

“Parker, can you lie back for me for just a second? I want to try something,” Alec says. There’s something different about him, something Eliot can’t place in the midst of his rising panic. The most important thing is that he looks like he knows what’s going on. Smartest man he’s ever met, Eliot thinks, and holds onto the comfort of that thought.

Parker nods slowly and leans back. Eliot’s grabs onto her hand, allowing her to squeeze tightly. Despite the situation, something in his chest warms at how openly she’s trusting them.

Alec breathes out and lets his hand hover on the lower-right part of Parker’s stomach. “I’m going to press down here, okay? This might hurt a lot. Tell me if it hurts more than it did before when I’m done.” He waits for Parker’s okay, and then gently presses and releases.

Parker hisses loudly, face contorting. Alec nods, grim. “Eliot, get Parker to the car. We need to go to the hospital.”

The world slows. “What? Why?”

Alec is already moving around the room, gathering clothes and toiletries. “I’m sorry, but we have to. I think she has appendicitis.”

“Oh,” Eliot says. For some very silly reason that he doesn’t find very silly now, he didn’t think about Parker being in the hospital. He didn’t think he would have to deal with either of his partners being in one…well, ever. It’s one thing for him to do jobs in a hospital, or con his way through one—those he can handle easily. But being a patient? Or watching people he loves in the very space that is the source of countless nightmares? That’s…he can’t. He just can’t.

He’s maybe spiraling, just a little. Shit, he’s a trained hitter with nerves of steel and the concept of a hospital is bringing him to a standstill.

“Eliot!” Alec snaps. It’s brusque, authoritative, and exactly what Eliot needs. He nods sharply and gently picks Parker up, pressing a kiss against her hair as he carries her out.

The drive to the hospital is short. Alec chatters incessantly as he steps on the gas, radiating nervous energy everywhere. Eliot engages with him half-heartedly, recognizing his efforts as distraction for both him and Parker, and holds onto Parker tightly. She’s quiet, face drawn with pain, but no longer crying. Just like for Eliot, having Alec take charge of the situation and know what to do had helped.

Eliot forces himself not to react when they enter. Within minutes of stepping into the emergency room, Alec has explained the situation to triage. The nurse at the desk nods, assesses Parker, and gives them a wait-time of fifteen minutes.

“Better than I expected,” Alec says, sitting down next to Parker and sandwiching her against Eliot. Eliot grabs her hand tightly. “It’s usually way longer. Lucky they’re not so busy tonight.”

“It’s too much,” Eliot grits out, meaning both the time and everything else. He feels Parker and Alec exchange a glance.

Parker leans her head against his, and he feels the sweat dampening her skin. “I’m sorry,” she says.

Eliot squeezes his eyes shut, hating himself. “I’m not the one with fuckin’ appendicitis.” He opens them again when Parker pokes his cheek, and he sees the understanding in her eyes, in that way that only she can understand. She carries the echoes of bad hospital visits, too, and they’re barely suppressed in her eyes.

“It’s going to be okay. I promise,” Alec says softly, watching them. His eyes are warm and sure. Again, Eliot is hit with something unusual about him…something in the way he’s saying it.

Parker has noticed, too, and she glances at Eliot out of the corner of her eye and tilts her head, slightly. _Later_ , that look says, and Eliot nods back minutely.

Alec continues. “Appendectomies are easy procedures and we caught it in time. The doctors have these surgeries down pat. You’ll be in and out before you know it.”

“Do I have to go under?” Parker asks, and her face tightens at how small her voice comes out. Eliot goes cold.

Alec stretches an arm around her, pressing his fingers hard into the knots in Eliot’s neck with his long fingers as he does so. Eliot focuses on that touch, fighting for composure. “It’s for the best,” Alec says apologetically. His face is drawn, too. “But we’ll be right here and watching you the whole time, okay?” He leans in and kisses her cheek. “We got you, girl.”

Parker nods, resolute.

Eliot blows out a breath, slowly reeling himself to a state of meditative calm. “Do you want me to talk you through how to stay calm when you’re going under?” he says quietly.

Parker shakes her head. “I know how,” she says. Her face crumples a little, and Eliot can tell she’s thinking of something else. He puts an arm around her, grabbing onto Alec’s arm in the process, and they sit there until the nurse calls Parker’s name.

Eliot and Alec follow her into her hospital room, Alec gracefully answering questions and charming the hell out of the nurses and doctors, while Eliot stares intently at each of them, watching for danger. The doctor who comes in is a young woman who introduces herself as Dr. Srineevasan. “Pretty textbook indicators of appendicitis here,” she says, and smiles at Alec. “Very nice job catching it.”

“Thanks,” Alec says, smiling back. “Had a couple siblings who had it.”

“Okay, well, we’ll send her for an ultrasound to confirm, and then I’ll contact general surgery. Just sit tight.”

She leaves them to wait. Eliot breathes through his nose, in and out, trying to settle into his skin.

“Hey, man,” Alec says, looking up from where he’s been flicking through his phone. “You wanna talk about what’s bothering you?”

“No,” Eliot bites out. Shit, he lost his concentration. In, out, in—

“Eliot,” Parker says in her mastermind voice. She hesitates, and Eliot can see her trying to articulate what she wants to say. “This is like a con,” she says finally. “We can’t see this through unless we have all the information we need. And that includes the safety of everyone on the team.

Her eyes are intent on him. _You need this_ , they say. And then he sees her expression waver, and he realizes that maybe she needs this, too. Maybe she needs to focus on someone else’s problems for a little while. 

“Shit, Parker,” he growls, half giving up his irritation. “Look, yeah, hospitals fuck me up. I was always at my most vulnerable when I was drugged up. Anyone could come through the door to kill me, and I would be powerless to do anything. That did happen. And a lot of the time, I wasn’t the only one who got hurt.” His partners exchange glances, faces drawn. “Kids died in the fallout sometimes, okay?” Eliot bursts out. “So yeah, I don’t trust hospitals and I don’t like being here because they remind me of some of the worst things I ever did.”

He glances up at his partners through lowered eyelashes and sees the concern and love in their eyes. No disgust, no masked horror, and he both aches and drowns in his relief.

“Okay,” Parker says. “Okay. I’m sorry I asked.”

Eliot shakes his head. “No,” he says. “You should know. I want to tell you more about—about me. You deserve it.” He sees Alec open his mouth to object and cuts him off. “I want you to know me.”

Eliot stops cold.

He hadn’t meant to say that—he hadn’t even thought it. It’s bare and bald and open in a way he would be horrified by, if it weren’t so true. Even with Aimee, he had never gotten to that point of vulnerability.

“I want you to know me,” he whispers again, and laughs. Alec and Parker laugh, too, their faces dawning with delight at the realization of what Eliot has revealed to them.

It’s one of the warmest feelings Eliot has ever felt.

\--

**Parker**

She has to be wheeled away to general surgery, and Alec and Eliot can only come with her as far as the waiting room. Parker fights her panic hard and nods. Her boys have been strong for her so far. She’s going to have to pull on the strength she built from her days before joining Leverage and push through the rest.

The doctors get her arranged on the bed. Parker tries not to flinch as they touch her. Dr. Parker (and Parker had laughed a little when she had introduced herself), her surgeon, notices. Parker sees her murmur to the nurses, technicians, and orderlies, and the process after that requires much less prodding and poking. She shoots the woman a grateful smile.

“Okay, I’d say we’re ready to get started. Are you ready, Parker?” Dr. Parker asks.

All at once, a wave of fear washes over her, and tears prick her eyes. Parker breathes deeply and goes back to an early lesson Archie taught her: fear clouds your mind. Use it as a tool but don’t let it hinder you. Not entirely relevant in this case, but it’s enough to allow her to nod shakily at the surgeon.

“Okay, great.” Dr. Parker motions to a nurse. “We’re going to put you under anaesthetic now. Can you count down from 10 for me?”

Parker breathes slowly. “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5…”

-

“—4, 3, 2, 1, go!” Nick launches off his bike and wobbles for a couple of feet before putting his foot down. “Parker! I can’t do it!” he whines.

“Yes, you can!” Parker exclaims. She pauses—something’s off. Has Nick always been that small? Her brother is looking at her hopefully, though, and she shakes it off. “Okay, all you have to do is keep pedaling hard enough to keep the bike moving. I promise, it’s easy! Here, I’ll roll it with you again and then I’ll let go.”

“Okay,” Nick says, and he’s so trusting. He’s so trusting! Why does he trust her?

Parker feels her chest seize. She freezes.

“Parker?” Nick asks uncertainly

Parker shakes her head mutely.

“Parker, it’s okay! Watch, I can do it this time!” Nick gets back on.

“No,” Parker murmurs. “No, no, no! Nick, don’t!”

Her baby brother gets that look on his face, that obstinate one that means he’ll do whatever he wants. “I can do it!” he insists fiercely. He launches off the sidewalk again.

Parker sees the exact moment he loses control and swerves towards the road. “Turn away!” she tries to scream, but she can’t. Her voice is somewhere in her chest, lost and locked away. The car comes barreling towards Nick and she can’t look, _she can’t look_!

The world freezes. The car is suspended inches away from Nick’s body on the road.

“Parker.” Nick’s voice comes from behind her. Parker scrubs the tears in her eyes and on her face, then turns around. They’re not at the road with the bike anymore; they’re in the field near their foster parents’ house, the one they used to visit all the time. They’re under their favourite tree. Parker remembers how often they’d climb it, hidden in its great boughs from the world, at peace in a way she realizes now was rare.

“Let’s climb,” Nick says. Uncertainly, Parker follows her little brother. They scamper up like they’ve done it their whole lives and settle on a branch facing the setting sun. They’re silent for a long time, just watching the sun go down. Parker lets the peace calm the panic and self-loathing inside her.

Her little brother leans into her, and she puts an arm around him. “It’s not your fault,” he says.

“What isn’t?”

“Me dying.” Nick turns to look at her, and Parker can’t face that trust in his eyes. “Parker, I mean it. I don’t blame you.”

“You don’t have to blame me for me to feel guilty. It was my fault. I didn’t drive the car that killed you, but I taught you to ride that bike. I did that. And you died because of it.”

“I know that you know it doesn’t work like that,” Nick murmurs. He hugs her tightly, face buried in her shoulder. “But I understand. I hope you know that I loved you up until the end, and I never blamed you. I still don’t.”

Parker gives a strangled sob and hugs her little brother back.

“I miss you. And I love you so much. I always will,” she says, voice choked. She feels something pulling at her, and she gets one last look at her brother’s face.

“I love you,” he says, smiling. Parker smiles back, and in the next second, she’s gone.

-

Parker wakes up crying.

“I’m okay,” she slurs, dopily waving off her doctors’ concern. “I just had a really nice dream.”

Her doctor nods. “Okay. Let me know if anything changes, alright? I’ll let your companions in to see you now.”

When Alec and Eliot walk in, relief plain on their faces, she starts sobbing again. She hasn’t cried this much in so long. Eliot and Alec look alarmed. “It’s okay,” Parker says again. Something deep inside her is healing, when she hadn’t even realized it was festering. She thinks she needs to let this out. “Just—come here,” she says, making slow grabby hands.

Alec and Eliot take her hands, and they sit with her and let her cry.

\--

**Alec**

Parker has already fallen asleep when Alec checks in on her. He brushes her hair off her forehead and tucks the heat pack, which is falling out of the blanket, back in its place. He pulls the blanket up to her chin and kisses her forehead. Then he settles onto the bed next to her, right in the middle, and watches her breathe. Distantly, he hears Eliot scrubbing the pot of soup over the sink and lets his mind drift in the comfort of being home, even as he carefully counts Parker’s breaths.

A little while later, Eliot comes into the room, hands shining a little in the dark of the room, still wet from washing dishes. He offers a bottle of orange soda to Alec, who accepts it gratefully, taking a deep drink from the bottle. In those few moments, Alec isn’t looking at Parker, and his heart jumps a little as he snaps his attention back to her. His insides feel quivery and soft, and he breathes through it, letting himself calm. It’s a depressingly familiar process. He hadn’t thought he still remembered.

“Alec,” Eliot says quietly. At some point, his partner has climbed onto the bed behind him and is sitting cross-legged. His hands leave wet prints on his shirt as he crosses his arms. He pins Alec with his gaze, his eyes shrewd.

“What?” Alec says. His fingers tighten around the bottle.

Something in Eliot’s face softens. He shifts closer to Alec, taking care not to wake Parker, and gently takes the bottle out his hands to set it on the nightstand. His hands come up to cradle Alec’s face. Alec wants to protest, wants to keep his eyes on Parker, but his breath whooshes out of him at the gentle strength in Eliot’s hands.

He needs that strength so badly.

“You knew exactly what to do today,” Eliot whispers. “And I don’t just mean the appendicitis—you were calm throughout all of it. When she was being wheeled away into the hospital room, and when she was getting surgery, and the way you were dealing with the nurses and doctors the whole time.” Eliot’s eyes are narrow with concentration. “From the moment you sensed something was wrong, you were calm and sure and you just…knew what to do. And, you know, when you were talking with Parker after we woke up and at the hospital, I thought something was different about you.”

Eliot takes a deep breath. His thumbs brush gently across Alec’s cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

Alec looks away. “Sorry about what?” he tries.

Eliot forces him to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry Parker and I never realized that hospitals are just as bad for you, too.”

Alec’s eyes burn. He swallows past the lump in his throat. That quivery feeling in his chest, the panicked, about-to-buzz-out-of-his-skin one he felt almost all the time in his teens, is back. Somehow, in all the years he’s been with the team, with Parker and Eliot, the full details of his time with Nana have never come up.

“Was it your grandmother?” Eliot asks softly, letting go of his cheeks. His hands slide down Alec’s arms, hot and comforting, to bring Alec into a tight hug. Alec loses his battle against himself and lets out a shuddering breath. He buries his face into the crook of Eliot’s shoulder, so hard he sees starbursts behind his eyes, and nods.

“Life was amazing with her. Compared to anything I had experienced before that, it was heaven.” He laughs, choked. “I mean, I didn’t trust that I could really get to stay, because I had never been able to before, and I gave her hell. But eventually, I settled in and I started thinking, yeah, this is my family, and I get to keep it this time. And then…she got sick.”

Eliot hums, arm a band around his back. One hand comes up to press against Alec’s neck, a mirror of what he had done for Eliot in the hospital. “What was it?”

Alec closes his eyes against the tide of memories. He remembers the panic he felt at thirteen, hearing that the only real family he had ever might be taken from him again. “Ovarian cancer.” Eliot hisses. “Wasn’t caught early, but early enough to start chemo. Late enough to not be sure it would work.” He takes a moment to breathe.

“Nana became real weak, real fast. My oldest sister, Janaya, was twenty-four and had just started work at her law firm. She moved back in with us to take care of all of us, pay the bills. She was only starting out, though, and her pay cheques weren’t enough. My other siblings, the ones who were old enough, tried to find work to help pay the bills, too. Which left me as the only one old enough to take care of both the little ones and Nana.”

“That must have been hard.” Parker’s voice, though soft, startles them both. She’s half sitting up, shrouded in the shadows of the room. She scoots so that she and most of the blanket around her end up around Alec and Eliot. She’s so warm, and Alec feels the tension in his body ease some more.

“Yeah,” Alec murmurs, tilting his head so that it’s less mashed into and more resting against Eliot’s shoulder. Eliot strokes the side of his neck softly. “The kids were on their best behaviour for Nana, but they were still kids. I was, too, but I was old enough to know I had to take care of them. And I did. Nana tried her best, still insisted on cooking and cleaning and taking care of us, but she couldn’t do much. Sometimes—sometimes, all she could do was sleep. And I was…I was always so scared when she did.I knew how quick it could take someone; how they’d be alive one second and gone the next. I thought if I took my eyes off her for one second, she would—she would be gone. So I would sit for hours by her bed, late at night, and just…watch her breathe.”

Parker presses closer against his back, close enough that Alec can feel her chest rising and falling. He blows out another shaking breath. “There was this one time where she stood up to get something and fell really hard. We had to take her to the hospital. Janaya and I stayed overnight while my other older siblings took the young ones home. It was the worst night of my life, because I know Nana almost died that night. I know how close she was. But she pulled through and to my kid brain, it was because I was watching. Nothing bad would happen while I watched.” Alec laughs wetly. “It’s a little ridiculous.”

“No,” Parker says firmly. “No, it isn’t. I’m sorry, Alec.”

“It’s okay. Everything’s okay, now.” Alec turns to kiss Parker’s forehead. He feels Eliot plant one on his cheek, and they all laugh a little. He feels exhaustion sink into his bones.

Eliot echoes his thoughts. “Bedtime,” he orders firmly, and pushes Alec flat in the middle. He lies down behind Alec, arm curving around his waist, warm and heavy. Parker slowly moves to the far side of the bed, using the space to stretch out comfortably. She’ll probably need that space tonight, so Alec just grabs her hand and laces his fingers in hers.

“Love you,” he murmurs. They both murmur it back, and before long, lulled by the comfort of each other’s breathing, they fall into a long, warm sleep.


End file.
